Selling England By The Pound

Genesis | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Atlantic / Wea
• ASIN: B00000DOZJ
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #207,895 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Dancing with the Moonlit Knight

2. I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)

3. Firth of Fifth

4. More Fool Me

5. The Battle of Epping Forest

6. After the Ordeal

7. The Cinema Show

8. Aisle of Plenty

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best choice for newcomers to Gabriel-era Genesis, July 5, 2003

By 

woburnmusicfan (Woburn, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Selling England By The Pound (Audio CD)

This isn't my favorite Genesis album, but it's probably the best one to try if you're new to the Peter Gabriel era of Genesis. It's more immediately accessible than the others, which take several listens to get used to. The album contains two songs that make the short list of Genesis' all-time best, "Firth of Fifth" and "I Know What I Like (in Your Wardrobe)", the production is pretty good, guitarist Steve Hackett plays some of his best solos, especially on "Firth of Fifth", and Tony Banks had just bought his first synthesizer, which provides ear candy throughout. Banks has made a career out of finding endless ways to make keyboard solos out of arpeggios -- "Firth of Fifth" is his best ever. "I Know What I Like" was Genesis' first notable single; the lyrics were inspired by a painting Gabriel saw at an exhibition, which became the album's cover. "More Fool Me" is a ballad notable only because it featured a rare lead vocal by the drummer, a fellow named Phil Collins. The second half of the album consists of two 12-minute songs sandwiched around a pleasant instrumental, "After the Ordeal". "The Battle of Epping Forest" relates the most twee gangland war on record; both Banks and Michael Rutherford admit in Armando Gallo's "I Know What I Like" book that while the music and lyrics to the song are both strong, the two just don't fit well together. "The Cinema Show" consists of two segments; the second half is a fantastic instrumental in 7/8 time spotlighting Banks' synth, the first half is...an acquired taste. The best way to tell a TRUE Genesis fan is to see if they can sit through the first half of "Cinema Show"; I've met some fair-weather fans who hit the wall during the acoustic instrumental between the two choruses. The song uses the dual 12-string acoustic guitar sound that was a staple of early Genesis, coupled with a lyric on gender issues that name-drops the Greek mythological figure Tiresias, history's first sex change. "Cinema Show" ends with "Aisle of Plenty", a brief reprise of the melody from "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight", the first of many times when Genesis would reprise the first song of an album at its end. As on most progressive rock albums of the 70s, the lyrics on "Selling England" can get a little silly; if you can get through the first 20 seconds of the album, you've weathered the worst of it.

(1=poor 2=mediocre 3=pretty good 4=very good 5=phenomenal)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Progressive Albums by Genesis, August 28, 2006

By 

Lonnie E. Holder "The Review's the Thing" (Columbus, Indiana, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Selling England By The Pound (Audio CD)

Until I became a fan of progressive rock I was unaware of the pre-Phil Collins history of Genesis, or, as some fans describe it, the Peter Gabriel era of Genesis. I was unsure of what to expect when I first played this CD because progressive rock has wide variety. I was pleased when the first track, "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight," starts off sounding like Jethro Tull's unique style of folk-rock. Just like classic Tull, this track soon gets spiced up with excellent guitar and drum work. The guitar in this selection is particularly interesting and challenging in portions and, with the complex lyrics, puts this selection squarely in the center of 70s progressive rock. Genesis does use some kind of synthesizer on this track. The synthesizer could be a mellotron or a chamberlain, or perhaps even a moog. I am unsure.

Foreshadowing the mellow Genesis of the future is "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)." However, the cryptic lyrics that nearly make sense and generally do not, along with the unusual rhythms (sort of a jungle theme from time to time) keep this song in the progressive genre, though toward the pop side of progressive. This song was the first hit for Genesis in Great Britain.

The third track, "Firth of Forth," is a wonderful track that has elements similar to King Crimson's early work in combination with excellent semi-classical piano and flute. The synthesizer and drums round out an intertwined, lush and sometimes sparse sound to create yet another outstanding progressive rock track. The lyrics for this song are more readily understandable, though still very euphemistic and poetic.

Phil Collins takes the lead vocal honors on "More Fool Me," once again foreshadowing the future of Genesis. This short track is a kind of interlude between the much longer "Firth of Forth" and "The Battle of Epping Forest," feeling almost like an intermission because of its relatively simple construction.

According to the booklet accompanying the remastered version of this CD, the nearly 12 minute song "The Battle of Epping Forest" was "Taken from a news story concerning two rival gangs fighting over East-End Protection rights." The song has a short introduction featuring vaguely military sounding music. The lyrics are about conflict and the results of the conflict, but the grim lines are moderated by the satirical nature of the entire song. Even the music is ironic, often light and playful in the midst of the death and destruction of the fight between the gangs. The end is outrageous and ironic. This music is one of those progressive rock creations that require hearing for full appreciation, and may never allow full understanding.

Leading from one irony to the next is "After the Ordeal." The English seem to enjoy poking fun at religion and this instrumental does well. Even the quasi-Elizabethan music feels vaguely religious without being so.

The seventh track, "The Cinema Show," is the fourth long track. This song is a dramatic story about Tiresias, a character from mythology who, in one version, was changed for a time into a woman, and then later back to a man. I leave the reader to discover the full story. However, the song brings in other elements to fill out the promise of the title, and because of the frequent ambiguity of the lyrics I am unsure of whether the intent was to harmonize the elements of the song with Tiresias's story, or whether the intent was to describe the elements of entertainment, since both Romeo and Juliet and Tiresias have been featured in various movies. In either case, the synthesizers are well-performed and much more subdued than those often featured in some other progressive rock work, such as, for example, that of Yes or Rick Wakeman.

The CD finishes off with the wonderfully bizarre and eccentric "Aisle of Plenty." There are some songs that are better left to the listener, and this is one of those.

As with much of progressive rock, this music is for the listener that likes a variety of progressive rock, particularly the kind created by groups such as Yes, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, and the Moody Blues, among others. While the music is somewhat mellow, there are places where the guitars take over and drive or pull the music along. The lyrics are sufficiently cryptic to challenge anyone attempting to decipher them. This album is a progressive rock classic from the early 70s, setting the stage for Genesis progressive rock album that followed, "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway."

Be aware that this CD was remastered in 1994 and the remastered version is available new. This version may only be available used.

Enjoy!

4.0 out of 5 stars Some Love This album, December 22, 2011

By 

TDN - See all my reviews

This review is from: Selling England By The Pound (Audio CD)

This to me is a bit of an odd sort of album and as a follow up to Foxtrot and Genesis Live I'm not sure exactly what they were trying to work out. It certainly has many beautiful songs ie I Know What I Like, Cinema Show and Dancing With The Moonlite Knight. There skill is obvious on this album but we would have to wait for the Lamb for them to really burst out of their shell.